Marco Gobbetti: Who is the manager that transformed Burberry and Ferragamo?

The news of Marco Gobbetti's departure from Salvatore Ferragamo, a company that in 2022 recruited him, in place of Michaela le Delivec, as CEO and general manager, arrived yesterday, in the late afternoon. The manager, born in Vicenza in 1958, has an international profile and a very long experience in Italian, French and English fashion brands, and has been called upon several times by renowned labels to restore the brand's shine, to revitalize sales, rejuvenate customer relations and kick-start digitalization.

In 2021, Forbes Italia magazine included him in the list of the 100 managers of the year

In 2021, Forbes Italia magazine included him in the list of 100 managers of the year. In 2022, in an analysis by the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on the salaries paid by listed Italian companies to managers and entrepreneurs, Marco Gobbetti was ranked tenth, with 2022 compensation of 13,915,350 euros.

Teamwork, the ability to grasp market and public developments well in advance are some of the characteristics of the manager's managerial approach.

Before joining Ferragamo, Gobbetti served as chief executive officer of Burberry

Prior to joining Ferragamo, Gobbetti served as chief executive officer of British luxury brand Burberry from 2017. At Burberry, Gobbetti, who then succeeded Christopher Bailey, led a complete transformation of the British label’s brand and business, from articulating a clearly defined purpose and strategy, to revitalizing communications and elevating product, to reinventing the luxury customer experience and innovating in digital.

Among his first moves once he arrived at the top of the Florentine company was the appointment of Maximilian Davis as creative director.

The English designer was chosen by Gobbetti for his personal aesthetic and his work characterized by elegance, sensuality and constant search for quality. "Thanks to his modern perspective, he will write a new, exciting chapter for this maison, founded on creativity, craftsmanship, refinement and extraordinary human values", declared, in 2022, the CEO of Ferragamo. "These first months in the company have been intense. Sustainable growth, however, is certainly among the priorities. We will work a lot on the offer, because we believe there is the potential to create new energy and bring more consumers closer to us through the inclusion of a series of new products", explained Gobbetti in one of the first calls with analysts.

In August 2022 Gobbetti gave life to a collaboration between Salvatore Ferragamo and Farfetch

In August 2022, a collaboration between Salvatore Ferragamo spa and Farfetch, a global platform active in the luxury fashion sector, also came to life. In detail, the commercial agreement provided for an integrated collaboration that allowed Ferragamo to accelerate digital innovation, exploiting all the potential offered by the platform founded by Jose Neves.

“Farfetch is the leading digital platform in the luxury segment and represents the ideal partner to further boost the brand's ecommerce and omnichannel innovation, fueling our plans to reach a new and younger audience and accelerate our growth,” explained Gobbetti, CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo.

Returning to the choice of creative directors, Gobbetti has always focused on the personality of the designer, in order to create a real change, but also on the ability of the designer to revisit the heritage of the brand without distorting its codes. This happened, to give another example, at Burberry, with the appointment of Riccardo Tisci. "Riccardo is one of the most talented designers of our time. Tisci's creative vision will reinforce the ambitions we have for Burberry and the position of the brand in luxury", said the then CEO of Burberry, explaining the reasons for the choice.

Marco Gobbetti and Tisci worked together when the Vicenza-born manager was president and CEO of Givenchy, from 2004 to 2008. Tisci was creative director of Givenchy from 2005 to 2017.

The manager has been president and CEO of French luxury brand Céline since 2008

Before joining Burberry, from 2008 to 2016, the manager was president and CEO of the French luxury brand Céline from 2008. Here, together with creative director Phoebe Philo, he tripled sales after revamping the brand's entire product offering and strengthening its image.

Previously, Gobbetti, who holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from American University in Washington DC and a master's degree in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, was chairman and CEO of Givenchy and CEO of Moschino, managing the transition to the Aeffe group after the death of Franco Moschino until 2004, when he took over as CEO of Givenchy. Gobbetti began his career at Italian luxury companies, including Bottega Veneta and Valextra.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.IT, translated and edited to English.

It was translated using AI. .

FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com